diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 827b66a..71b3484 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ else
 all: compile-$(TARGET)
 	@echo "=======The ethersex project========"
 	@echo "Compiled for: $(MCU) at $(FREQ)Hz"
-	@${TOPDIR}/scripts/size $(TARGET) $(MCU)
+	@$(CONFIG_SHELL) ${TOPDIR}/scripts/size $(TARGET) $(MCU)
 	@echo "==================================="
 endif
 .PHONY: all
@@ -169,10 +169,10 @@ $(ECMD_PARSER_SUPPORT)_META_SRC += protocols/ecmd/ecmd_defs.m4 ${named_pin_simpl
 y_META_SRC += $(y_NP_SIMPLE_META_SRC)
 
 meta.c: $(y_META_SRC)
-	@m4 `scripts/m4-defines` $^ > $@
+	$(M4) `scripts/m4-defines` $^ > $@
 
 meta.h: scripts/meta_header_magic.m4 meta.m4
-	@m4 `scripts/m4-defines` $^ > $@
+	$(M4) `scripts/m4-defines` $^ > $@
 
 ##############################################################################
 
@@ -234,7 +234,7 @@ embed/%: embed/%.cpp
 
 
 embed/%: embed/%.m4
-	@if ! m4 `scripts/m4-defines` $< > $@; \
+	@if ! $(M4) `scripts/m4-defines` $< > $@; \
 	  then $(RM) $@; echo "--> Don't include $@ ($<)";\
 		else echo "--> Include $@ ($<)";	fi
 
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ embed/%: embed/%.sh
 	$(OBJCOPY) -O binary -R .eeprom $< $@
 ifeq ($(VFS_INLINE_SUPPORT),y)
 	@$(MAKE) -C core/vfs vfs-concat TOPDIR=../.. no_deps=t
-	@core/vfs/do-embed $(INLINE_FILES)
+	$(CONFIG_SHELL) core/vfs/do-embed $(INLINE_FILES)
 endif
 
 ##############################################################################
@@ -263,7 +263,8 @@ endif
 
 
 ##############################################################################
-CONFIG_SHELL := $(shell if [ x"$$OSTYPE" = x"darwin10.0" ]; then echo /opt/local/bin/bash; \
+### Special case for MacOS X (darwin10.0) and FreeBSD
+CONFIG_SHELL := $(shell if [ x"$$OSTYPE" = x"darwin10.0" ] || [ x"$$OSTYPE" = x"FreeBSD" ]; then echo /opt/local/bin/bash; \
           elif [ -x "$$BASH" ]; then echo $$BASH; \
           elif [ -x /bin/bash ]; then echo /bin/bash; \
           elif [ -x /usr/local/bin/bash ]; then echo /usr/local/bin/bash; \
@@ -323,7 +324,7 @@ PINNING_FILES=pinning/internals/header.m4 \
 	$(wildcard pinning/internals/hackery_$(MCU).m4) \
 	$(wildcard pinning/hardware/$(HARDWARE).m4) pinning/internals/footer.m4
 pinning.c: $(PINNING_FILES) autoconf.h
-	@m4 -I$(TOPDIR)/pinning `scripts/m4-defines` $(PINNING_FILES) > $@
+	$(M4) -I$(TOPDIR)/pinning `scripts/m4-defines` $(PINNING_FILES) > $@
 
 
 ##############################################################################
diff --git a/core/portio/Makefile b/core/portio/Makefile
index 867b1ef..53d95ce 100644
--- a/core/portio/Makefile
+++ b/core/portio/Makefile
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ NP_CONFIG ?= $(TOPDIR)/pinning/named_pin/default
 
 core/portio/named_pin.c: core/portio/user_config.c
 core/portio/user_config.c: $(NP_CONFIG)
-	@core/portio/cfgpp $<
+	$(CONFIG_SHELL) core/portio/cfgpp $<
 
 # extend normal clean rule
 CLEAN_FILES += core/portio/user_config.h core/portio/user_config.c \
diff --git a/core/vfs/do-embed b/core/vfs/do-embed
index eddd44c..ff01253 100755
--- a/core/vfs/do-embed
+++ b/core/vfs/do-embed
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@
 # http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
 #
 
+STAT_ARGS="-c %s"
+[ `uname` = "FreeBSD" ] && STAT_ARGS="-f %z"
+
 (cat <<EOF
 #include <avr/pgmspace.h>
 SPM_PAGESIZE
@@ -40,7 +43,7 @@ fgrep -q "#define VFS_INLINE_HTML_CLEAN_SUPPORT" autoconf.h &&  do_strip=true
 while true; do
   fn="$1"; shift
   test "x$fn" = "x" && {
-    SZ=$(stat -c %s ethersex.bin)
+    SZ=$(stat ${STAT_ARGS} ethersex.bin)
     echo "Final size of ethersex.bin is $SZ."
     exit 0
   }
diff --git a/scripts/Menuconfig b/scripts/Menuconfig
index 42a8212..9fb09d4 100644
--- a/scripts/Menuconfig
+++ b/scripts/Menuconfig
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ single_menu_mode=
 set -h +o posix
 
 ### use GNU sed from macports instead of BSD sed on MacOS X
-if [ x$OSTYPE = x"darwin10.0" ]; then
+if [ x$OSTYPE = x"darwin10.0" ] || [ x$OSTYPE = x"FreeBSD" ] ; then
     SED=gsed
 else
     SED=sed
diff --git a/scripts/add-hardware b/scripts/add-hardware
index ff77cc4..233d689 100755
--- a/scripts/add-hardware
+++ b/scripts/add-hardware
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#! /bin/bash
+#! /bin/sh
 
 usage() {
   echo "Usage:"
@@ -416,7 +416,7 @@ grep -v -e "^HARDWARE=" -e "^$HARDWARE=y" .config > .config.new
 echo -e "HARDWARE=$hw\n$hw=y" >> .config.new
 mv -f .config.new .config
 
-function l_editor() {
+l_editor() {
   echo "launching editor for $1 ..."
   if [ -n "$EDITOR" ]; then
     $EDITOR $1
diff --git a/scripts/defaults.mk b/scripts/defaults.mk
index 7a40826..ff69546 100644
--- a/scripts/defaults.mk
+++ b/scripts/defaults.mk
@@ -7,11 +7,16 @@ RM = rm -f
 AVRDUDE = avrdude
 AVRDUDE_BAUDRATE = 115200
 AWK = gawk
-M4 = m4
 
-### use GNU sed from macports instead of BSD sed on MacOS X
-SED = $(shell if [ x"$$OSTYPE" = x"darwin10.0" ]; then echo gsed; \
+### use GNU sed from macports instead of BSD sed on MacOS X and FreeBSD
+ifeq ($(shell uname),FreeBSD)
+M4 = gm4
+SED = gsed
+else
+M4 = m4
+SED = $(shell if [ x"$$OSTYPE" = x"darwin10.0" ] ; then echo gsed; \
 	else echo sed; fi)
+endif 
 
 HOSTCC := gcc
 export HOSTCC
diff --git a/scripts/m4-defines b/scripts/m4-defines
index b5f6936..05dd7cd 100755
--- a/scripts/m4-defines
+++ b/scripts/m4-defines
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 ### use GNU sed from macports instead of BSD sed on MacOS X
 ### BSD sed does not support -r option
-if [ x"$OSTYPE" = x"darwin10.0" ]; then
+if [ x"$OSTYPE" = x"darwin10.0" ] || [ x"$OSTYPE" = x"FreeBSD" ]; then
     SED="gsed"
 else
     SED="sed"
diff --git a/scripts/pinning_hardware_list.sh b/scripts/pinning_hardware_list.sh
index 2342cca..5ecc265 100755
--- a/scripts/pinning_hardware_list.sh
+++ b/scripts/pinning_hardware_list.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,10 @@
-#!/bin/bash
+#!/bin/sh
+
+SED=sed
+[ `uname` = "FreeBSD" ] && SED=gsed
 
 for profile in $(ls pinning/hardware/ | sort | grep '\.m4$'); do 
-  echo $profile |  sed 's/_/:\n/; s/.m4//' \
-  | sed -e 's/\(^.\)/\U\1/' | tr -d "\n"
+  echo $profile |  ${SED} 's/_/:\n/; s/.m4//' \
+  | ${SED} -e 's/\(^.\)/\U\1/' | tr -d "\n"
   echo " $profile" | sed 's/.m4//';
 done